Tuesday, September 10, 2024
By Kris Leonhardt
Editor-in-chief
DE PERE – Like many other immigrants, the Seroogy family came to America to escape poor conditions in their homeland.
The call for ambitious men to the “New World” was attractive to families affected by both war and economic upheaval.
Among them were Rookoos and Anastasia and three of their sons — Solomon, Joseph and James — and a brother-in-law, Joseph Shalhoub.
Once in America, they headed for California, where southern California was beginning to grow at a rapid pace.
During a stop in Chicago, they heard of a city to the north offering plenty of mill work at the height of the country’s Industrial Revolution, where they found the growing city of Green Bay — the perfect place for those with a knack for business and an ambitious mindset.
“With the Mediterraneans, the Lebanese, the Syrians, the Greeks, there is an inordinate percentage of —not big, but more often than not — you’ll find people of that nationality involved in ice cream, bakery, candy, chocolate, soda fountains, something like that,” said Rukas and Anastasia’s great-grandson, Joe.
“There are several of them in the state that were like that. In Escanaba, there’s Sayklly’s. In Beloit, there was a family of people from Lebanon. In Minneapolis, there’s Abdallah chocolates and here, Ferrara had candy in Green Bay at one time, and Seroogy’s have had it since 1899.
“So, I don’t know why that is. I think they just like to make people happy. Candy’s a fun business. It’s been very enjoyable.
“So, they came over in the 1890s. Lebanese people do not like to work for other people. They don’t like to work for a paper mill or a construction company or something like that. They want to do it themselves.
“They worked for a year or so in some of the paper mills in the Fox Valley, until they saved up a nest egg and they were able to get started in a retail business.
“There were sandwiches and soups and burgers and whatnot. And one day, my grandfather liked to play around in the kitchen, and he made a batch of fudge, chopped it up into small pieces and sold them for five cents apiece, and they just went bonkers. You know, people loved it.
“So he did it again the next day, and became a staple thing. And then, long story short, ultimately, the chili and the burgers went the way of all things passed, and we specialized in being a candy company, with brittles and caramels and creams and taffys.”
In November 1900, the family welcomed a set of twins — McKinley and Bryan — corresponding with the 1896 presidential election and the 1900 rematch.
Just weeks before Christmas 1902, two younger siblings, arrived in Green Bay to join him and other family members, alone and presumably frightened, as their older brother was detained in France due to an eye infection.
“With tags pinned to their clothing giving their destination, George Seroogy, aged 14 years, and his sister, 11 years old, neither of whom can speak a word of English arrived in Green Bay last week from Syria, having made the journey thousands of miles without the company of an older person,” a Press-Gazette article stated.
The couple welcomed two more children in America — Selma in 1903 and Frances in 1905.
Rookoos Seroogy ushered all of the children into a life of entrepreneurship and through that created an environment that would lead to the industry of fine chocolate.
To be continued
Many thanks to the De Pere Historical Society, Joe Seroogy and Marjorie Hitchcock for their assistance in researching this 125-year history.
